The purpose of this application is to request partial support for a two day scientific meeting dealing with microbial virulence factors and the human immune response. The meeting will be held in Oakland, California at the Claremont Resort Hotel on Friday thru Sunday, October 19-21, 1991. It win be held under the auspices of the Bacteriology and Mycology Study Sections (1 and 2) of the Division of Sponsored Research of the National Institutes of Health. Because of the proliferation of information on the molecular biology of factors involved in microbial virulence, the concept of a workshop dedicated to address this topic was initiated recently by the above bodies. Its purpose was to invite leading scientists to present advances in their areas of expertise to young investigators and also allow the exchange of information between those scientists and established investigators, particularly members of the above study sections. The first such meeting was held on October 18-20, 1986 at the same site, the second meeting was held February 18-20, 1989 at the University of Florida in Gainesville. Both meetings were attended by 125-150 participants in addition to study section members. There was free flow of information and feedback from attendees indicating that the meetings had successfully achieved their goals. There was a request for similar meetings to be held at 2-3 year intervals. The proposed meeting will be held in conjunction with the BM-1 and BM-2 study section meeting. The meeting will address areas in which there have been recent major advances. Selection of specific topics in part has been based on areas of scientific review by the individual study sections. The major benefit to be derived from this meeting is that of exposing young investigators to the state of the art progress in the above field of science, to provide an opportunity for them to interact with leaders in their field of research, to maintain momentum of current interest and to provide the spark for new interest in research on the molecular biology of microbial infections and host response in man.